


Decay

by CannibaLilly



Series: Goretober 2017 [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 11:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12275145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CannibaLilly/pseuds/CannibaLilly
Summary: A parasite caught in the body of a little girl gets experimented on by her “parents”. There has to be a way to kill these creatures for good, so why not try out your newest solution to the infestation on the parasite that lives in your home?Day five of my Goretober challenge!





	Decay

**Author's Note:**

> Goretober Rating: (3/10). Some details about a rotting body, but only scary if you squint. Will I ever beat the 5/10 mark??
> 
> A scene from a book I'm trying to write. It's more of a flash-back for ones of the characters really and will most likely not make it into the actual book. So I figured, why not write it down for Goretober instead?

She had holed herself up in her room. They would have locked her in here anyway, but they didn't need to. Her whole body felt too tight and too warm for her to operate it around the house. Gwen pulled those thin knees closer until she was nothing but a small ball of flesh and bones and blood underneath a cuddly blanket. Once bought for daddy's little girl, no doubt, but that little girl had died and now her body housed a monster. Though it seemed as if the body was fighting its new tenant.

  
  


She closed her sore eyes and ignored the room softly spinning around her. She had to stop thinking this nonsense. It wasn't the body that fought her, it was the drug they had given her.

 

They had been experimenting with killing the Worms by destroying the host body for a while now, but so far no test had felt as likely to succeed as this one. Gwen had figured her parents were scared of losing their daughter's body. If Gwen survived but the body didn't, they would need a new vessel. And they only had so many children to sacrifice.

 

A nasty grin pulled at Gwen's lips and she let it stay. Petty as it may be, it was one of the few joys she had had in the last weeks. She was punished right away, smiling made her face ache, the skin felt itchy and taut. Her head was pounding so it took her a moment to realise that the soft knocking sound she had heard was coming from outside of her skull.

 

“Gwen?”

 

The boy sounded uncharacteristically soft. He was worried, that always made his voice sound even younger than he really was.

 

“Gwendolyn?” he asked, more firmly this time. He still wasn't sure how to act around that monster wearing his sister's face. She didn't blame him.

 

“What is it?” She had hoped her voice wouldn't sound as croaky. Her throat was sore from the few words and Gwen swallowed sickly. She hoped her vocal chords wouldn't rot, she would hate losing her voice or choking on parts of her own body.

 

Silence followed, maybe her voice had scared the boy off, but then she saw the thin line of light growing in size and Ben poked his head inside. Gwen quickly hid herself under the covers. Luckily her room was dark.

 

“Are you ill?”

 

She smiled in the pitch black. How was she supposed to answer that? Ben was pretty bright for his age, he knew his parents did things to Gwen and that she was in pain a lot. If he thought his parents tried to help her or if he knew they were the source of her pain she didn't know though. And it was not her job to educate the boy on his parent's true intentions.

 

“I haven't seen you in days.” There was definitely a complaint in his voice. An eight-year-old missing his only play-mate. That this mate happened to be a monstrous parasite in the corpse of his late sister didn't make his situation seem any less sad.

 

“Yes, I'm ill,” she told him. It hurt, but she savoured the conversation anyway. It was the first one she had had in days. Had it really been days since they injected her with that stuff? How long would they let the experiment drag on this time?

 

“When will you get better?”

 

“I don't know.”

 

Through the gap she made by lifting the blanket, Gwen could see the little boy stirring, stepping from one foot to the other, uncertain whether to come in or go away.

 

“We could play cards in your bed like before,” he offered.

 

“We've never played cards,” Gwen told him.

 

“That was before. With my sister before,” he explained. “I can show you, it's simple!”

 

“I can't, Ben.”

 

“But why not?” he whined.

 

“I...” I am dying you stupid boy. I am slowly dying because your parents are lunatics, injecting me with unheard-of liquids in their cellar. I can feel this body falling apart around me right now! “I look funny. I don't want to scare you.”

 

This had done the trick, though the trick was a different one than Gwen had anticipated. Ben slipped into her room and closed the door behind him. Now he was standing with her in a dark room. All alone. He was a courageous one, she would give him that.

 

The thought crossed her mind the way it always did. How easy it would be to slip out of the girl's body and crawl into the boy. There was no drug in his blood. All it took was letting go of the girl and she could be free of pain.

 

The thought passed without Gwen acting on it. Not that she had seriously expected herself to act. She knew she wouldn't break the deal with Ben's parents, not when they were this close to their common goal, killing her entire species. She knew and so did they, otherwise they would never have taken that ridiculous mask off her. Besides, if she ever had to escape this body, she wouldn't take the boy. Anybody, but not him.

 

“Show me,” he said in his bravest voice. “I won't be scared, I promise.”

 

“Ben-”

 

“I _promise_ ,” he repeated and clenched his little hands to fists. Gwen sighed, but pushed the covers back and sat up.

 

“Don't be scared,” she said slowly and switched on the lamp on her bedside table.

 

Ben squeezed his eyes shut, against the sudden light. When he opened them again, they widened. For a moment he didn't say anything, only gaped at Gwen. In the light Gwen couldn't resist glancing into the mirror across the room.

 

The face of the little girl was grey-ish green and had sunken in, she could make out her skull underneath. Patches of hair had fallen out and her eyes were yellow. She averted her eyes but ended up staring at her hands. The skin around her knuckles had started to blacken and peel off, exposing the flesh beneath. She was grateful the window was wide open, yet the stench must be horrible.

 

“Does it hurt?”

 

“Yeah.”

  
  


Ben's huge eyes were shimmering in the light and Gwen realized he was fighting tears. He didn't scream, he wasn't scared, he just worried about her. About  _her_ . Gwen dug her rotting fingers into the covers before she lied to him for the very first time. “It's going to be okay. Your parents will make it better.”

 

Ben rubbed his eyes furiously. “When?”

 

“Soon.”

 

It didn't feel right. Gwen had sworn to keep herself out of family affairs. She wouldn't tell Ben about his parents' dirty little secrets, but she also wouldn't gloss anything over. But now this.

  
  


This was bad, lying was such a human thing to do. Lying to your brother to make him feel better was such a _family_ thing to do. But what could she do?

 

“Do you still want to play cards?” she croaked and smiled. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the decaying face of Gwen in the mirror, it was smiling too.

 

“Okay,” Ben sniffled, but actually returned the smile. “I'll be right back.” And then he dashed off and Gwen leaned back against the headrest of her little bed. What had she gotten herself in here?


End file.
